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Saturday, January 08, 2011

This is old news

While looking for another video on CNN's Headline News website, I found one that wonders if Gabby Sidibe's skin was lightened for her appearance on the cover of Elle... indeed, where she takes up the ENTIRE cover, but that's a whole other topic for a whole other post. And before anyone comments about this, yes, I know this is from September 2010. I'm a pro at reporting old news.

In the video, they've got two light-skinned black women who are OUTRAGED that a black woman was taken from "mocha" to "cafe au lait" on the Elle cover. One of the women makes a reference to the "beiging" of Hollywood and that black women have been told they were "lucky because they were 'high yellow'". The only problem is, she's about as black as I am, a woman whose brother refers to her as a "skinny white girl". Certainly, her skin color shouldn't diminish what she has to say. But when she alludes to black getting through life better when they're beige -- ok, she's beige too.

All video-related comments aside, who is this woman and why does she grace one of four Elle covers for the month? The three other cover models are skinny white girls who most people have actually heard of. Having Sidibe on a cover almost seems like a joke -- like, "ha ha, let's put a fat black chick on here because we're like, super diverse and stuff. Wait, she's too black. We have to lighten her up first."

I dunno. I already forgot what video I had been looking for, so here's a picture of some weiner dogs: